Something More than Ordinary
by GrayDove
Summary: High school AU fic. The characters of Fire Emblem 7 must make their way through a year of high school, each facing unique concerns and difficulties. Chapter 3: Legault and Kent's parttime job.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **This is my first attempt at any AU fic. Ever. So let's hope that I can manage to pull it off! Constructive criticism is appreciated a lot more than "I liked it" or even "This is the best fan fiction I've ever read". Really.

Pairings are not listed, because they are subject to change. Any polite requests may be taken into account, unless they are for couples that I utterly despise, including Eliwood/Ninian and Rath/Lyn. Also, ages are apt to be incorrect, but I had to put most of these kids in one High School. I couldn't do it all correctly.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fire Emblem, because if I did, I'd translate all of the games into English for us poor, selfish, English-speaking Americans to read. However, I do own a mini fridge.

a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a

Fiora had woken up with the delightful realization that today, of all days, she was _finally_ a High School senior. She could wear a letter jacket without looking stupid, would get to buy a ridiculously overpriced dress for prom, and could finally, finally be elected as the head photographer for the school newspaper.

She had her clothes laid out from the night before, and grabbed them upon awakening. She would have to fight for the bathroom, she knew. Farina spent more time on her hair and makeup than Fiora spent on most of her math homework.

It took only a matter of seconds to pull on her jeans and Princeton T-Shirt, sneakers following close behind. Farina had tried to tell her last night that it was bad luck to wear a shirt to a college that you hadn't been accepted to yet, but Fiora rather liked the shirt. Plus, she did want to go to Princeton. Her grades were good enough, as were her SAT and SAT-II scores. It was just a matter of the essay.

It was a quick trip downstairs, with a kiss to her mother and the subsequent receiving of a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Florina, already dressed, was sitting at the table, eating from a similar bowl, filled with the same things.

Sitting down, Fiora realized that Florina was dressed in her usual fashion. Fiora had never been one for dresses, but Florina loved frilly skirts that went past her knees, and long-sleeved pastel shirts. "You look cute, Flor," Fiora said with a grin. "Do you want me to do your hair? Pull back a little of it?"

The lavender-haired girl smiled and nodded. "With my new silver barrettes?" she asked, eyes wide with delight.

"However you want it," Fiora replied, shoving one last spoonful of Honey Nut Cheerios in her mouth. "Come on, let's go."

When the reached the bathroom, Farina was leaned over the sink, eyeliner in one hand as she deftly applied the heavy makeup. Fiora sighed. "Farina, just let me grab a brush, will you? I'm doing Florina's hair."

Farina sighed, then grabbed a brush and tossed it to Fiora, who deftly caught it. "We'll do it in my room."

Florina sat utterly still as her older sister gently brushed out her hair and caught a small section of it in the barrette. "Are you nervous?" Fiora asked.

"A little," the younger girl replied candidly, regarding her sister's handiwork with a smile. "It looks really pretty. There's going to be so many people."

The aqua-haired girl laughed at her younger sister's sudden change of thought. "It does look pretty, and yes, there will be lots of people. But it'll be okay. You'll still have your friends from junior high there with you."

Fiora knew full and well that Florina really didn't have any friends from junior high. So many people ignored her little sister, as her shy nature kept her from meeting most of her classmates. There was that girl in Farina's grade, from the stable, that Florina went out with sometimes to the movies, or riding. Lyndis. She was a nice girl, but would she really want to hang out with a Freshman in school? "Just remember to-"

"WHO ate MY last poptart?" Farina cried, bursting in on her two sisters, reddened face clashing sharply with her light blue tank top.. "Someone ate the last strawberry pop-tart! Who did it? 'Fess up, Fiora!"

The eldest girl shrugged. "Florina and I both had Cheerios, so don't look at us. I don't see why you eat those things, anyways."

"Because I can take them in the car!" Farina explained, rolling her eyes. "And now I don't have anything to eat on the way?

"We covered this already. You are not eating in my Tacoma. That is three summers and countless weekends worth of work for me," Fiora replied. "When you get your own car, you can eat as much as you like in it, and never vacuum it out."

The dark-haired girl groaned and ran a hand through her hair, which she'd spent several minutes perfecting. "Fine. I'll get something out of the vending machines when I get to school. A pop-tart."

"That sounds excellent." Fiora gave her youngest sister a long grin. "Come on, Florina. Get your stuff. It's time to go."

It was no easy matter loading the three girls into the Tacoma. Farina insisted that Florina couldn't sit in the middle seat, because it made them look idiotic. Fiora felt that Farina didn't want to be seen with her little sister, but eventually decided that it was more sensible for Florina to sit in one of the small, sideways-facing chairs in the back seat.

Florina was utterly silent in the back seat, her arms wrapped tightly around her brand new backpack. "It's not that bad, I promise," Fiora reassured her little sister once they pulled onto the main road, smiling at her in the rearview mirror. "I'll take you to get your schedule, and if you get lost, just go into a bathroom and call me on my cell. I'll come and find you."

"Ah, Florina's a freshman," Farina added happily, reaching up to run a hand through her short, dark blue hair, an impish grin on her face. "Florina's fresh meat. Isn't it amazing how they sound the same?"

Fiora took her eyes from the road just long enough to give her younger sister a glare, then immediately turned her gaze back to the traffic. "Florina, it's not that bad. You've been in the school with me before, when you visited the photojournalism lab, and you were fine. And you have your cell, right?"

The youngest of the trio nodded shakily. "Uh-huh," she half-whispered. "In my pocket."

"Remember, Flor', don't let any of the teachers see on it. Some of them will take it up in a flash," Fiora reminded her. She was talking more to fill the silence than to actually convey anything to her younger sister. After all, Fiora had made it through her freshman year with no help, and she Farina hadn't wanted any advice. But Florina was not either of her older sisters, and she would need help.

Hanging a left on San Elimine, Fiora tried to turn her mind from her younger sister's potential problems. The traffic was a mess. The high school was immediately off the side street of San Elimine, and when thirty-five hundred kids were all trying to get onto that street, paying attention was pretty much necessary.

"Just hope that you don't get Coach Vaida for P.E.," Farina remarked with a smug grin. "She's harsh. But oh, wait. She teaches all of the freshmen girl's gym classes."

There was a loud whimper from the back seat, and Fior acouldn't help it any longer. "Shut it, Farina!" she snapped, whirling to give the middle sister a long, intense glare. "Coach Vaida's fine. Besides, Florina only has to take gym for two years. And she'll be good at it, too."

"Of course she will," Farina replied with breezy confidence, which only frustrated Fiora more. How could her sister be so insensitive about the whole thing? Florina was not going to do well in high school, were there were probably ten times the amount of people at her junior high. Not to mention lots of boys that she didn't know, which wouldn't go well. "When she tells coach Vaida that she's the soccer star's little sister, everything will be just fine," Farina continued. "Just don't embarrass the family name, Flor."

A small red sportscar immediately behind them was honking madly. Fiora realized with a start that she hadn't moved at all, and there was a large space in front of her in line. "Whoops," she muttered, releasing the brake and coasting forward as the sportscar honked again.

Farina began to roll down her window with a livid expression, and Fiora groaned. This could only lead to bad, bad things. "Farina, get your head back in the car right now!" she commanded as her younger sister stuck her head out the window.

"Jerks!" Farina yelled, unbuckling her seatbelt so as to turn and glare at the offending drivers. "Idiots! We're having a moment here! Wait your turn!"

Fiora thumbed the control on her armrest, and watched with some childish delight as Farina struggled to pull her head back in the car as the window rolled up. "You shouldn't have done that!" the dark haired girl snapped with a frown and a glare.

The eldest girl shrugged, pushing a few strands of aqua hair out of her eyes. "I told you not to stick your head out of my car window," she said as means of explanation. "It's my car. If you don't want to behave like a normal civilized human being, then you can find another ride to school. And to the horse barn, come to think of it."

Farina mumbled something intelligible, but Fiora didn't mind. She took another glance in her mirror at Florina, who was still sitting with her arms latched about her backpack, eyes wide as she risked a tentative look behind them at the offending red sports car.

a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a

Normally, Hector didn't like to honk his horn. But this was a very, very special day.

Things had proceeded from bad to wonderful to horrendous. But, that was the way that things worked in the Axel family. When your only caretaker was a twenty-eight-year-old who worked as a scuzzy, if very successful and wealthy, lawyer, and your parents had left behind more money than you knew what to do with- well, almost more money than Hector knew what to do with- then you were pretty much destined to be riding life's rollercoaster.

It had started out with the sudden realization that today was the first day of his senior year. Awful. Being on the starting defense of the varsity football team would help out with that, certainly, but still. School. Who needed grades when they knew that Ivy League colleges would be pounding down their doors in a few short months, just to have you play football? When some colleges had already started?

But Uther tossing him a pair of keys had helped oh-so-much. "Won a big case yesterday," his older brother said with a shrug. "Thought that we should celebrate, it being your senior year and all. Mom and Dad got me a Viper for my senior year."

"As long as it's not your Viper," Hector replied. "I don't want something that's been totaled, thanks very much."

His older brother had rolled his eyes, and jerked his head towards the front door. It had been a Corvette. And not a new one, either. A sixty-four red Corvette, fully restored, and the new love of Hector's life.

"It's got two seats," Uther had remarked, and Hector had found himself confused by that obvious statement. "Which means you need someone else to fill that seat."

Hector had wanted to tell him that Eliwood, his long-time best friend, already had a truck, and wouldn't need a ride. Then he knew what his brother was talking about.

Erk.

Even the kid's _name _sounded annoying. He'd come to live with that odd family over the summer, who Hector had the odd feeling were foreign. They spoke perfect English, but they didn't seem to have jobs, and they were filthy rich. Definitely foreign spies, or something of the like.

And now, he was giving the purple-haired bookworm shrimp a ride to school. Hector had tried to be polite. After all, he'd just gotten his new car, he was going to be a senior--maybe the kid needed some help. He was, what, a sophomore? He hadn't been at Insigina High yet, though. But Erk had shrugged off all of his attempts to help, and kept his nose buried in some book. Hector had asked him what it was.

"Tess of the D'Urbervilles," Erk replied. What the hell was a Durburvil, anyway? "Not particularly academic, as there are no concepts to be taken of it, but it is a tragic realistic novel, written by one of the best authors of his time period."

Hector couldn't quite keep the blank look off his face.

"Thomas Hardy," Erk had replied. And then the kid had rolled his eyes at him! "One of the greatest novelists of all time, in my opinion. Perhaps next to Alexander Dumas and the more present Orson Scott Card. Throw in George R.R. Martin for good measure on the fantasy, I suppose."

What the _hell_ was the kid talking about?

So when a little gray Toyota Tacoma stopped in front of him in the parking lot, not moving for several seconds, Hector laid on the horn. Erk jumped in surprise, his gaze ripped from his book for a few seconds. Hector didn't know why, but it gave him complete satisfaction. So when the boy lowered his gaze to his book, Hector again pounded on the horn.

"Jerks!"

Who was calling _him_ a jerk? He wasn't holding up traffic, wasn't ignoring the people who were kind enough to transport him places in their brand new, fully restored Corvettes.

"Idiots!"

Ah, it was the girl from the Tacoma. She had her head out the window, and Hector immediately recognized the shock of dark-blue hair. Oh, God, he was _not _prepared to mess with Farina Pearson today. She was a junior this year, a very athletic- and, he didn't want to admit it, good-looking- girl, and not the sort that one wanted to carry on a conversation with.

Hector tried to lower his six-foot-two frame, and cleared his throat softly. Erk glanced up, gave him an annoyed glance, and returned to his Durbur-wurbur-vurbur book.

When the Tacoma took a left, into the less-crowded area of the parking lot, Hector continued on, determined to find a parking spot as far away from them as possible.

He finally sighted one, and pulled in next to a little green Saturn, from which a pretty girl in pigtails was emerging. "Cute, huh?" he asked Erk, then immediately regretted his words when the boy turned to regard him with a lazy stare.

"I suppose," Erk replied. "Although I don't find that I have time for girls. Most of them are terribly annoying, anyways."

Crap, the kid wasn't _gay_, was he? No, surely not. Just weird. "Girls will always be annoying," Hector intoned wisely. "But there will be a time when _not_ having one is even more annoying than putting up with one. You'll take the plunge, buddy. I promise."

Erk frowned, swinging his backpack over one shoulder, _Tess of the D'Urbervilles_ still clenched tightly in his hand. "In the book I'm reading, Thomas Hardy portrays love as something that does not work, unless both parties are completely pure and innocent, and able to commit fully to one another. Tess allows herself to be wooed by a man, and as a result, has a child out of wedlock, is betrayed by a man that she falls in love with years later, and is eventually killed. She loved Angel with all her heart, but that did not stop her from being killed for her sins. Her younger sister, though, is 'allowed' by the fates to fall in love with, and presumably marry, Angel, because even Tess says that she is all of the good, with none of the bad."

Hector scowled as Erk strode towards the main campus. He hadn't even said "thank you". Or, for that matter, spoken one coherent sentence the entire ride over there. What the crap was all of that love stuff about, anyways? Hector wasn't talking about love. He was talking about dating, and getting some action while he was at it.

Well, then. The boy could walk home, if he had that attitude. No one had asked Hector to take him home in the first place.

a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a

**A/N:** Sorry that the first scene seemed to drag a little bit. I really wanted to establish a little of the dynamic between the three sisters. Following scenes will be longer, but better written.

And naming the street San Elimine came from the concept that the street my high school was on was called San Augustine. Thought that it fit the FE theme nicely.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **A big thank you to my reviewers!

_MiniLippy:_ I really appreciate the praise! Giving the kids an appropriate backstory and a realistic twenty-first century personality was the thing I was most concerned about, so your reassurance is, well, reassuring. I really enjoyed reading your fic, as well.

_Jessiordia_: Thanks for the questions, which made me realize that I hadn't illustrated enough on Hector. He already had a car before this, but it was dumped when Uther bought him the Corvette. And, goodness, who wouldn't want a '64, fully restored Corvette? drools I imagined Hector as a car buff, hence the old car.

Hope that everyone enjoys the next chapter, which underwent a lot of editing and rewriting!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fire Emblem, or anything associated with it. I do, however, own this piece of fiction.

a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a

Florina was on the verge of tears.

Fiora had taken her to get her schedule, and then given her directions on how to get to each and every one of her classes. Which had been fine for the first two or three periods of the day, because the directions were fresh in her mind. But now, for fourth period in room 209, Florina had absolutely no idea where she was headed.

It wasn't just that, she knew. There had been one person from her junior high in her second period class, a boy named Trent, but he had given her a small smile, and then proceeded to sit on the opposite side of the room. The rest of her classes had been filled with new people, some of them sophomores and juniors. She was actually the only freshman in her U.S. History class, and had sat in the back of the room. Everyone else already knew each other, already had friends. And she didn't.

She didn't want to duck into a bathroom and call Fiora on her cell, either. Fiora had told her that it was okay to call any time, but she didn't want to get Fiora in trouble if her phone rang in class. And Fiora had her own classes to go to…. She had already helped so much.

But Florina was becoming more and more aware that she was going to have to do something, and soon. The hallways were so crowded that people kept on bumping into her. Standing against the lockers didn't help, either, as someone invariably needed in the locker that she was standing just in front of.

When one girl with a pair of bright pink pigtails impolitely ordered her to move, Florina backed toward the crowded center of the hallway, sniffling loudly when someone bumped rather forcefully into her.

"You okay?"

Jerked from her private thoughts, Florina let out a small "eep," then turned to see a hulking, blue-haired, letter jacket-wearing young man. Surely she hadn't bumped into him, of all the people in the hallway? "S-sorry?"

The boy smiled and ran a hair through his messy blue hair. "Freshman, right?' Florina forced out a nod, at which the blue-haired young man smiled even more broadly. "What room are you looking for?"

"Um, two-oh-nine," Florina answered after a moment's hesitation, and held her schedule out at arm's length. He seemed nice enough, even if he was so _big_. And he was probably a senior, with that letter jacket. What was it for, anyways? Football, probably. Fiora had told her that it was mostly the football team that wore theirs no matter what the season.

The young man grinned again. "Oh, old Windbag Merlinus for Chemistry? I don't pity you at all. That was the worst class of my life." Florina whimpered softly, biting her bottom lip sharply. "Don't worry. He's nice, just boring. Now, what you want to do is go down to the end of this hall, and hang a left. On the, um, third hallway you come to, take a right, and his door will be just a few down on the right. Think you can make it?"

Florina took her schedule back from the human hulk, and nodded hesitantly.

"I'm Hector," he continued, grinning politely. "Good luck in Windbag's class!"

With that, the hulk- Hector- turned and strode off, leaving Florina staring firmly at her shoes. That had been interesting, to say the least. She'd managed to talk to a boy. A _senior_ boy who was wearing a letter jacket, and who was at least a foot taller than she was. It had been scary, but he had been completely nice about the whole thing.

What were those directions again? For a moment, Florina panicked, too afraid to run after Hector to ask for directions again. She swallowed, murmuring an "excuse me" as someone shoved past her in the crowded hallway.

Left at the end of the hallway. She could do that much, easily. Or was it right? "No," Florina told herself aloud. "Left. Turn left at the end of the hallway, then right. Room two-oh-nine."

She had just gathered her wits about her, and was about to set off down the hallway, when another voice cut through the random mumblings of the people around her.

"Florina! Hey, Florina! Back here!"

The lavender-haired freshman paused, then turned to look behind her. Lyn was hurrying through the crowd, paying little attention to the people that she was elbowing. Two boys were following behind her, one with reddish-orange hair and another with an unruly mop of brown hair. "Florina!"

"Hi, Lyndis," Florina replied with a polite grin, allowing herself to be swept up in a tight hug. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Months," Lyndis said, smiling broadly. "Now, Florina, this is Kent-" she gestured to the redheaded boy. "And Sain. They're both juniors, too. Choir nerds. Kent and Sain, this is Florina."

The brown-haired Sain gave Lyn a half-push and gave Florina a wide smile. "Well, hello, Florina. It is certainly a delight to meet you. Lyn," he continued, shaking his head at his friend, "why didn't you tell me that you had such a pretty friend?"

Florina blushed and gave another "eep" before grabbing Lyn's sleeve and stepping behind the taller, older girl. "Don't- stop it!"

"Don't stop?" Sain asked cheekily, taking another step forward. Florina squealed again, and buried her face in Lyn's shoulder. How had she gone from being able to tell that boy Hector what room she was looking for, and now she didn't even want to be close to Sain? Hector had been nicer, though. He hadn't tried to flirt with her.

Lyn sent a well-aimed fist towards Sain's arm, who gave a half-yell of pain, and glared at the green-haired girl. "Oh, come off it, Sain! Leave her alone, why don't you? She's just a freshman. And she certainly doesn't want any of your attentions. Just the same as every other girl alive."

Kent, silent up until that point, chuckled at the fiery junior's antics. "I wouldn't argue with her, Sain. Because I back Lyn up completely on this point. You need to calm down a little."

Sain gave a loud, fake groan, throwing one hand across his forehead. "My two best friends, united against me in my poor search for true love! Woe is me and my poor, lonely soul. Perhaps a kiss from yonder fair maiden would remedy this pain?" he asked with a wink at Florina, who had moments ago begun to release Lyn's shirt.

This time, it was Kent who delivered the blow- a kick to the leg- and rolled his eyes. "Lyn, thanks for introducing us. It was very nice to meet you, Florina," he added with a polite nod. "But we're leaving. Choir, Sain. Choir. Think of all the girls there. It's bound to cheer you up."

Kent shook his head at the two girls as he receded, and Sain began to wax poetic down the hallways once more. "Oh, choir! You seek to remedy my pain from being shot down by a beautiful freshman with whatever second-par beauties are simply willing to come to be?" His voice was decreasing in volume as they went down the hallway, and more than a few people were turning to stare at the odd pair. "No, Kent! Nothing can heal my pain!"

As soon as they rounded the turn, Lyn burst out into laughter. "Oh, sorry, Florina, he just- I just- we just…" She collapsed into hopeless chuckles again, and Florina gave a half-hearted smile. It hadn't been that funny, really. Sain had scared her horribly, even if Kent seemed okay.

"He's _always_ like that," Lyn finally explained once her chuckles quieted. "Always. He's a hoot, but I can't laugh as much as I'd like to around Kent. Kent takes everything so….seriously. In case you hadn't noticed, he's a bit of a stick in the mud. Don't get be wrong, he's nice, he's just predictable."

Florina nodded, becoming more and more aware that the hallways were rapidly emptying. "Um, Lyn, is the bell going to ring soon? Shouldn't we go to class?"

The junior gasped, eyes flicking to her watch. "You're right, Florina. Um, do you know how to get to your class?"

Florina nodded. "A really nice boy named Hector told me. A really tall boy."

"Oh, no. Did he have blue hair, and was he wearing that letter jacket?" Florina nodded. "Come on, then. You're not using his directions. He's a jerk, sometimes, and you really don't want to do what he says. I'll take you."

"But you'll be late for class!" Florina protested when Lyn grabbed her arm and began marching her down the hallway.

Lyn shrugged. "I'll manage. Besides, I've got Canas, and he hates counting anyone tardy. He's late most days, anyways. One of those creative genius teachers, y'know?"

Florina didn't know, but allowed herself to be half-drug down the hallway in the same direction that Hector had pointed her. She had found Lyn, who would watch out for her just as much as Fiora would. Except Lyn didn't have to do it- she wanted to do it. And that made it even better.

a-a-a-a-a-a-a

Raven had managed to get through the entire day without having a single person sit next to him in classes. It was a relief, really. There were so many people at this school that he could blend in, shoot a few evil looks when he needed to, and be left well enough alone. All of the other seniors were wrapped up in their own petty problems. Football, colleges, and for some kids, prom.

He, on the other hand, had been through all of it already. Well, all except the last five weeks of his senior year. He didn't know how to handle the actual graduation, or the senior prom, or applying for colleges. It didn't matter, though. College was not on the top of Raven's list.

Getting through his senior year- again- was. This time, all that he had to do was keep out of trouble. And that wouldn't be too hard, seeing that there were more than enough people to hide behind in this school. He just had to keep to himself.

If only they weren't making him take World Geography. It was a sophomore-level class, to be filled with average sixteen-year-olds, slow juniors, and him. At least no one would pressure him to be in a group project, or something of the like.

Lucius was the lucky one. He was out of school, taking a year off to volunteer for the local church, particularly the Habitat for Humanity branch. At least they were both eighteen now, old enough to live on their own without dodging any questions about parents and being wards of the state. That was a relief, more than anything. The two boys had been living on their own since Raven had turned sixteen, old enough to drive and get a job. Lucius had never been thrilled about the concept of lying about having parents, but Raven had talked him into the whole thing. They were a good pair, the blonde boy who was raised an orphan, and the redhead who had lost his parents from inner city life. One kind and innocent, the other hardened by experience of his life. It was Lucius who had convinced him to finish high school, had pushed him into repeating his senior year.

So maybe, then, it was Lucius' fault when immediately after he sat down in World Geography, he was surrounded by a trio of sophomores. A girl in a knee-length white skirt and a dark green top sat down in front of him, talking animatedly to the boy who sat to his right, a purple-haired young man with more books in his hand than he could need for just school. To his left came a girl with a pair of dark-green braids and a lighter green bandana tied about them. Thankfully, his back was to the wall, so there weren't going to be any undersized midgets behind him.

A few minutes of listening, and he had picked up on all of their names. The girl in front of him was Priscilla, the boy to his right Erk, and the green-haired girl was Rebecca. For some reason, Priscilla was vaguely familiar, but he wasn't quite sure why.

At one point, the girl named Priscilla turned and smiled shyly at him, at which Raven only scowled even more. He knew her from somewhere, and she was important, somehow… He just wasn't quite sure how.

The teacher for this class was certainly less interesting than the babbling idiot who had taught Raven's first-period gym class. Mister Harken. A ridiculous name, to say the least. Harken had tried to joke around with him, but when Raven had returned his japes with cold, unwavering stares, the blonde man had stopped. And what a relief it was, too. Harken had spent the first half-hour talking about how he'd gotten engaged to Isadora, who apparently taught another class at the high school.

Whoopee. Congratulations to him.

But this professor, with his graying purple hair, was wasting no time cutting to the chase. His name was Professor Marcus. He stressed the _Professor_ very strongly, leaving Raven to wonder if _Professor_ Marcus had a Doctorate's degree. What a letdown it must be, he thought with a wry grin, to be teaching an average class of sophomores when you'd spent years and years in college.

"First assignment," the teacher continued, Raven still not pulling out a sheet of paper to take notes, "will be a group project. Groups of four. I'm not going to assign them, because you're big boys and girls, and you can handle something as simple as counting to four without my help. Each group will present a chapter to the rest of the class, as teachers." What was the man going to be doing while they were doing his job? Writing essays for scholarly journals? Writing a novel? Oh, there were so many options that Raven couldn't even pick one. "It must teach. I don't care if it's creative or not, but you have to make the class learn the assignment in one period. Come to me with your group, and I'll give you a chapter number. Project is due in two weeks."

Ah, group projects. Raven had always hated them with a fiery passion, and now, with the promise of working with a bunch of sixteen-year-olds, he despised them with all the flames that Hell could muster. Not that Raven believed in Heaven or Hell- that was Lucius' bit.

The three sophomores around him quickly formed a group, and the redheaded young man was expecting it when Priscilla turned to him and smiled. "Hey," she said, grinning. He had seen that smile before, somewhere. "You need a group?"

A thousand sarcastic remarks shot into Raven's mind. He certainly hadn't telepathically communicated with another group and joined them. "Sure," he muttered, shrugging.

"I'm Rebecca," the two-braid girl piped up, as if she'd made a stunning revelation.

"I know," Raven replied, trying to keep some of the bite out of his voice. "It was impossible not to hear you three introducing and talking. Besides, it's not as if it's an impressive group of students in this class."

Erk frowned, and Priscilla's smile faltered, but Rebecca continued brashly onwards. "Well, you know my name, and I don't know yours. What is it?"

"Raven," he answered. There was no reason to try and hide that information from them. His name would have to go on the group project.

"Are you a junior?" Rebecca asked again, and Raven scowled even more deeply. "I don't think that I've seen you before, but this school is pretty big, so it's likely that we've seen each other in passing."

Did the girl not know how to shut up, or did she just like to pry into other people's business? "I'm a senior. Just transferred in."

Rebecca nodded as if she understood the entire thing. "That sucks, having to transfer out just before your senior year started! Do you miss anything of your old school?"

"No." He gave the answer and a glare at the same time, which effectively quieted the peppy sophomore. For a moment, at least.

"Anyone want to get the chapter number?" she asked. Raven wanted to turn and bang his head against the wall. Or, better yet, bang Rebecca's. Priscilla and Erk didn't seem too bad, but if this girl didn't stop talking, he was going to have to do something. "Well, then, I will!"

Thank whatever God existed in the universe. Blessed, blessed silence.

Priscilla cleared her throat softly, and turned her gaze from Erk back to Raven. "I'm sorry, but have we met somewhere before? You are very familiar. I went to this school last year, and Fairmont Junior High before that. Did you go there? Or maybe to Jackson Elementary?"

"Sorry, no," Raven replied with a shake of his head. He nearly told Priscilla that she was quite familiar, too, but decided against it. No reason to encourage the girl to talk more than she had to.

"I just want to volunteer my house for any team meetings that we might have," Erk interjected, breaking into Raven's thoughts. "It's very large, so we would have plenty of space to work on whatever we needed. Pent and Louise- my adoptive parents- have very excellent computers, so anything that we needed off the internet, or anything printed, we can obtain easily."

"Chapter Three!"

Wonderful. She was back.

Rebecca sat gracelessly in her chair, and smiled at the group. "Chapter three is what we've got. Rise and fall of Ancient Greece. We just missed out on the Egyptian Dynasties, which was chapter two. But I like Greece a lot better."

"This'll require very little work," Erk said with a breezy air. "I'm very interested in the ideals of classical antiquity, so I already know a large majority of the basic facts. The textbook probably doesn't delve any deeper than the bare facts. We won't be discussing too many wars, because it simply wouldn't be cost-result efficient."

Raven had to admit, it was a little funny to listen to this purple-haired little kid ramble on and on about Ancient Greece. He certainly hadn't been this verbose a few minutes ago, when he was talking to Priscilla.

"Um, does anyone have any plans this afternoon?" Priscilla asked, looking around. "I know that it's the first day of school, but the sooner we get started on this, the sooner we're finished, and the better that we'll know the material for the presentation." No one raised any objects, and the redhead continued. "We can start planning now. I don't like the idea of giving everyone a section, because it just makes the overall flow of the presentation very jerky and disjointed."

It would have been easy for Raven to drift off, and he normally would have, thankful for an escape from the conversation. But Priscilla was turned sideways in her chair, facing towards him, her book open on his desk. Something about her was bothering him.

The way that she bit her bottom lip when she was thinking… He had seen that before. Seen that smile, seen the eyes, heard the laugh. He couldn't turn his focus somewhere else. At one point, he glanced towards Erk, and saw the violet-eyed boy glaring daggers.

But even glares from some jealous sophomore couldn't stop Raven from staring at Priscilla, wondering exactly where she was from, and how he knew her.

a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a

**A/N: **Sorry, this was originally going to be three scenes, with the third from Priscilla's PoV, dealing with how Erk and Rebecca interpreted Raven's staring. But it ended up being short and shallow, so it was dashed on the cutting board floor.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Sorry that this chapter took a little bit longer to get up… My part-time summer job suddenly turned into an overtime mess. Plus, I had some Eliwood writer's block, and I hate the second half of the first scene. Anyways, replies to reviews are at the end of the chapter, to keep this a little less clustered.

Also, due to the sheer number of FE characters, some of them are going to be a little ignored. I have a rough idea of who I want to focus on (the lords, plus the Pegasus girls), but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and taken into account.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Fire Emblem. If I did, the FE 8 supports would be better.

a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a

It was almost- almost- funny. Eliwood had returned from summer relaxed and calm about colleges, SATs, and admissions essays. The deadlines for his top choices would all come up in December, and he had the bare basics filled out- name, age, address, and the like. Essays and his GPA were all that had been left empty. They would be filled out in a few months, when he had his senior year to base his experiences on.

But now it was the final class of the day, and he was ready to rip his hair out. It seemed that almost every other senior was concerned with scholarships and test scores. Casual acquaintances and close friends alike would sit down, ask how his summer went, and then ask what he'd made on his SATs.

His answers rarely made them happy. Fifteen-twenty on the SAT, and a six-seventy and six-forty on his SAT IIs.

"You make me sick," Matthew groaned as he, Hector, and Eliwood sat down for criminal justice. It was a essentially useless class, but they'd all needed that class for individual reasons. Eliwood needed to keep up his GPA, Matthew needed to _raise_ his with an easy class, and Hector needed the credit hour. "How the hell are the rest of us supposed to get into college when you make any of our scores look like shit?"

Hector laughed loudly. "You're don't even _want _to go to college," the broad-shouldered senior reminded him. "Would you honestly care if you didn't get in?"

"Being written out of the grandparent's will is something of an inspiration, when you think of it," Matthew replied with a good-natured shrug. "They pay for college, I show up for it and don't have to get a job, and get paid whenever they kick the bucket."

"That's an awful way to look at it," Eliwood remarked, frowning and drumming his fingers on the edge of his desk. Matthew treated most things with sarcasm, but Eliwood was always a little afraid that Matthew was just a bit too serious about what he said.

Matthew shrugged again, frowning. "You could make any joke seem morbid, Eliwood," the sandy-haired youth muttered.

"Oh, both of you need to relax," Hector interjected, shaking his head. "There are more important things in life than Matthew's grandparents and their will. Like seeing my new car."

"You mean Uther broke down and got you something other than that shoddy old Camero?" Matthew asked, rolling his eyes. "You poor, abused child. It must be awful to have an older brother who buys you anything you could ever want."

Eliwood chuckled, while Hector gave Matthew a light punch in the arm. "That from the boy whose grandparents are paying for his entire college tuition," the redheaded boy replied. "I've got to earn what I don't get in scholarships."

That made the two other boys roll their eyes and laugh. "Oh, 'whatever I don't get in scholarships'," Hector said mockingly. "Puh-lease."

"I could say the same thing to you," Matthew replied. "Mister football. Wonder what college you'll end up going to? One with a good football program who's desperate for you to play."

"We're all covered, then," Eliwood concluded, hoping to change the topic to something- anything- else. He was getting sick and tired of even thinking about college. Everything had been so planned. Completely figured out. And now just talking about it was making him nervous… "Come on, Hector, tell Matthew about the new love of your life."

Hector immediately sat up a little straighter in his seat, his grin widening. "It's a sixty-four Corvette," he began dreamily, and Matthew gave a low whistle. "Red. Black leather interior, fully restored. Decent sound system." Hector gave a shrug. "Uther was never very good in that department."

Eliwood smiled and shook his head. His own vehicle was a black F-150 Sport, which his father had bought him when he turned sixteen. Elbert had always told him that keeping up his grades and being on the golf team was enough of a "job" without having to work part-time, too. So he had tried to keep the truck from being a distraction, tried to study just as much as he had before he had his own transportation. And, all in all, it had gone rather well.

Mister Marcus was clearing his throat loudly, trying to get the class's attention, when a loud rapping at the door interrupted everyone's thoughts. Before Marcus could even open the door, a familiar slender man with long, pale purple hair entered the room, a Border Collie following him closely behind.

Marcus opened and closed his mouth several times. "Hello, Legault," he finally said. "Come in to bring in your next victim?"

"I'm afraid that I am," Legault replied, scratching his drug dog on its head. "Would you mind if I pulled one of your students out of class? Probably not to return."

"Ooh, who's he getting this time?" Hector asked, leaning forward as if excited with the whole prospect. "Hope it's that Jaffar kid- he gives me the creeps."

Eliwood frowned, while Matthew chuckled loudly. "He's not _in_ this class, Hector. Think about it- you really think he's coming for a kid who's probably in remedial math?"

"Hey, I took remedial math!" Hector replied, giving Matthew a quick punch when the slender senior began to chortle loudly. "And there was nothing wrong with me, thank you very much. Miss Sonia was just too hot for me to try and listen to her and check her out at the same time."

Meanwhile, Legault was striding across the classroom, his Border Collie trailing him. "Paul Hinman, would you mind stepping outside with me for a moment? Bring all of your things. And Jasmine, I know that's his backpack, so please let him bring it out, unless you'd like to be punished for being in possession of it, as well," he added.

Matthew gave a low whistle and shook his head. "Reason number one why not to bring anything to school," he muttered under his breath. "That guy must have done the same thing when he was in school- otherwise he wouldn't be able to catch everyone at _everything_. Remember when he busted that one girl for bringing painkillers? What was her name?"

"Rebecca," Eliwood interjected. "She was a freshman. Didn't get suspended."

"Whatever. I just wonder who they're going to get for a defensive lineman if Paul gets sacked," Hector said. "Nobody on the JV is good enough to come up to the Varsity."

The redhead laughed and rolled his eyes. "Your brain works in astonishing ways, Hector. Is football all that's in there?"

"And girls," Matthew replied, only grinning when Hector gave him another quick punch in his arm.

"That offends me." Hector shook his head sadly. "It's hot girls, Matthew. Football and _hot_ girls. Don't get it confused with anything else."

a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a

Part-time jobs were, unfortunately, a necessary evil for Kent Foster. Every day after school, he prayed that his old, beat-up, but impeccably clean Chevorlet truck would start and make it to the Whataburger, just down the street from the high school. Every day up until the start of November, rain or shine, he rolled the windows all the way down, for lack of an air conditioner.

But at least he _had_ a truck that was, for the most part, reliable. When he'd turned sixteen his sophomore year, Kent had been forced to walk- rain or shine- to his job. Sometimes Sain or Lyn would take pity on him and give him a ride there, but Kent tired of imposing on his best friends. It just wasn't polite.

It had been embarrassing at first, having to serve the kids from his school. Because it was so close to the high school, kids tended to drop by the Whataburger for an after-school snack, while Kent was working the window.

At least it was a job. Forty hours a week: four after school each day, and ten on both Saturday and Sunday. Minimum wage with almost no hope of a raise wasn't the best pay schedule, either, but it was better than nothing. He was almost seventeen when he'd purchased a vehicle that started ninety-five percent of the time; maybe even as much as ninety-eight percent. And now, with extra hours during the summer time, he had over fifteen thousand dollars saved for college.

Two years later, any embarrassment had passed. Sain thought that it was great that his best friend worked at Whataburger, because he could get extra ketchup at the drive-thru. Lyn often stopped by on weekends and afternoons to sit at a table, sip a Dr. Pepper, and study, waiting for Kent to get his lunch break.

Which was where she was after the first year of Kent's senior year. He never could figure out how she could put up with sitting on a hard, cold bench and studying despite all of the talking going on around her. Besides, what was there to study after their first day back?

"I'm going to clean tables," Kent said to the shift manager, a silent man named Dorcas, when the initial surge of high school customers had ended. "And can I take my break after I finish with that?"

Dorcas nodded. "Sure."

At least the man didn't spend so many words telling him exactly when he had to be back. Kent grabbed up a wet rag and a tray, flashing a smile at Lyn as he started working on the tables farthest away from her. It had become a daily ritual, one that made Kent's day go just a little bit faster.

He could swipe down the tables without having to concentrate in the least, and would turn to smile at Lyn with every table that he finished. She had laid down her book and would smile in return, smile growing when he nearly ran into a girl with a pair of bright pink pigtails.

"Watch where you're going!" the girl cried, smoothing down the fabric of her miniskirt and eyeing Kent up and down. The boy shuffled his feet a little, hoping to escape the girl's attentive gaze. What the hell was she doing, anyways?

Quite suddenly, the girl's face shifted into a broad grin. "I'm Serra," she said, smiling broadly and holding out her hand.

That in itself presented a challenge. Kent had to throw his wet rag on one of his shoulders, shift the tray- which had quite a bit of trash on it now- to his left side, and extend his right hand. "Kent," he replied. Serra shake hands in the oddest way, though. Her touch was heavy, but she held his hand in an awkward, light kind of way. It was as if she was trying very, very hard to be dainty, and was failing badly.

"Do you work here every day?" Serra continued, not letting go of Kent's hand. "I'm afraid that I don't come in very much, but I think that I would have noticed you before…."

This was getting awkward. Kent glanced at Lyn, who gave him a small wave and a silent laugh. "Well, yes, every day. But I have to get back to work. It was a pleasure meeting you, Serra."

The pink-haired girl smiled and shrugged, turning and hurrying out of the Whataburger, while Kent turned back to wiping tables.

When he reached Lyn's table, she began laughing madly, throwing her head back with sides heaving. "Oh, sure, that was great," Kent muttered, giving her table a swipe and hurrying to empty the tray and return the wet rag behind the counter.

He couldn't completely suppress his smiles, though, as he went over to sit across the table from Lyn, a medium fry in his hand. "Want some?" he asked, turning the box to face Lyn.

"Oh, don't act so innocent," Lyn replied, still chuckling slightly. "I want to know what you did that makes girls suddenly adore you. And, once you tell me, I'll be forced to tell Sain, so that he can try to get a date."

Kent groaned, feeling a small bit of warmth rush to his cheeks. "She just started talking to me. Don't ask what I did to deserve something like that." He grabbed another fry and began chewing, again turning the box to Lyn and nodding.

The junior girl smiled and sighed. "Fine, if I must, then I suppose that I could take a few." Another daily ritual. She would always, always sigh and then concede, because she knew that Kent would offer multiple times. "You could start a new trend. Taking weird sophomore girls to prom."

"I already told you that I wasn't going, didn't I?" Kent asked. He'd had his entire "prom" situation since March of his junior year, when a senior girl, Leila, had asked him. He'd politely turned her down, and she'd instead asked Matthew, who had agreed.

Lyn frowned and shook her head. "No, you didn't. I thought that we were going as friends. "But that's fine, if you don't want to go."

This was far from a ritual. Lyn had put a fake half-smile, and was staring fixedly at the table. Kent frowned and began chewing on another fry. "If you want to go," he finally said, "I'll take you. Unless we have a huge fight at some time before I buy the tickets. But if we have one after I buy the tickets, you have to come anyways."

That brought a real half-smile, which Kent supposed was better than a fake one. "You don't have to take me," she protested. "If you don't want to go to prom, then you shouldn't go all noble on me and take me anyways."

"Just as long as you're happy riding in _that_," Kent added, nodding towards his Chevy. He was tempted to joke about getting a limo service to donate a car for them, but he didn't want to seem pathetic. He just couldn't afford all of the frills that came with prom.

Lyn shrugged. "I"ve ridden in '_that_', as you call it, more times than I even want to remember," she replied with a smile. "Remember that one time?"

The senior laughed and nodded his head. 'That one time' was imprinted forever in his memory. He'd just gotten his truck, and Lyn had needed a ride home. It was raining, and she had turned down Kent's umbrella for the walk out. So the two of them had sprinted for his truck- only Kent had forgotten that he'd left his windows down to try and air out the musty, smoky interior of his truck.

He'd rolled up his window, but Lyn had been unable to roll hers up. "You were the one who talked me into rolling mine down, too," Kent chuckled. "My Biology notes were ruined."

"I'll raise you a half-done English paper," Lyn replied, and Kent sighed, rolling his eyes. "You know you can't beat the half-done English paper. Especially when it's for Professor Karel's class."

"Well, I'll see that with a truck that smelled like old water for a month," Kent countered with a grin. "No amount of Febreeze could get that stuff out."

Lyn pondered that for a while, then shook her head. "You win, this time. You never put the smelly truck seats into play before. I'll have to come up with something even better than that. Until then, I'm not speaking to you."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, Kent smiling and Lyn maintaining a look of false detachment. "I had to redo my hair before I could go anywhere."

"You don't care what your hair looks like."

Lyn shook her head. "Damn! You know me too well, Kent Foster. I have to come up with some big huge secret that I'll never tell you."

"No more free fries for you, then."

"Damn! My weakness has been discovered."

Lyn was half-pouting, and Kent began chuckling loudly. "You know I could never deny you half of my fries, Lyn."

The junior girl gave a melodramatic sigh. "Ah, Kent, ever the gentleman. Gives a girl half of his fries instead of buying her even a small order. How simply knightly of you."

"I only get a medium free," Kent reminded her. "And I'm certainly not knightly enough to break into the college funds for fry money, when you could buy your own if you wanted."

Lyn shook her head. "Nope. Now I have to save up money so that I can buy a dress for the prom that my not-so-knightly best friend is taking me to. And seat covers so that I don't smell like old rainwater when we get there."

"Of course- you can't be a lady while you smell like old rainwater, can you?" Kent teased.

Munching on a fry, Lyn attempted a half-glower. "Isn't your break over yet? Dorcas over there is giving me the creeps. He keeps on glaring at you- or me. You because you're late, or me because I'm making you late?"

"Both, I'd think," Kent replied. "But you're right- it is over. Thanks for stopping by, Lyndis Lorca."

"Any time, Kenneth Foster." Another ritual.

"My name isn't Kenneth."

"Sure it's not." Lyn half-wrinkled her nose as she laughed, as she did every day after their 'debate'. "Now get back to work, good sir."

Kent gave a sweeping bow. "As milady commands."

"My name isn't milady."

"Sure it's not."

Kent couldn't have told you when the verbal sparring ritual had begun. But he knew that he liked it, because it was the same, every day. Something that he could depend on. Fights had been resolved over those few sentences. It was comforting to know that all could be solved with a few easy words.

a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a

**A/N: **Yes, Kent was a little OOC. But this is AU, remember. I can't imagine the characters growing up in exactly the same way as they did in the actual game, because of the differences in their surroundings.

**MiniLippy: **Thanks again for the review! I guess I should have but that Priscilla scene in there- Priscilla knows that she's seen Raven before, but isn't quite sure where. And she's far too polite to stare at him, anyways. Thank you for sticking with this fic and reviewing the second chapter- I really appreciate it.

**Randomreview: **Well, to be honest, I'm not really a Hector/Lyn fan… laughs To _really _be honest, it's up there with Eliwood/Ninian on my "I hate" list. But there will be some Rath/Lyn, and a Lyn triangle. I'll give you three guesses on who the other guy is, and the first two don't count. ;)

**Black Lord 500: **Thanks for the praise. Karel will be entering- he is, oddly enough, the sophomore English teacher. Thought it might be interesting to have him a role that he doesn't necessarily fit into.

**DGG-XAM1:** Wow- I really appreciate that you picked Florina out of the characters. I tried very hard to keep her IC, but also allow for the differences that were bound to occur, based on the changes in the era. Glad to know that you liked it.


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